Alchemy and Verdi's Falstaff

[Paul Ferguson]

"If Falstaff is teacher and the other characters his students, we must ask: what is his pedagogical method? How does transformation occur? The answer lies in the opera’s dramatic structure, which subjects Falstaff to three trials corresponding to the classical elements—water, fire, and earth—while his own essence manifests as the fourth element, air, in the form of laughter that breathes through all trials and ultimately becomes contagious, spreading to all characters in the final fugue."

https://stasiefomalgaut.wordpress.com/20...-falstaff/

Opera here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vglRBwL_3q0